The U.S. Navy is putting together new guidelines for its personnel to report "unidentified aircraft," but says it will not release any of the collected information publicly as it will be privileged and classified, reports The Washington Post.
Politico last week first reported on the new guidelines, an important step to create a formal process for collecting, analyzing and destigmatizing UDOs.
Joseph Gradisher, a spokesman for the office of the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told the Post "no release of information to the general public is expected."
"Military aviation safety organizations always retain reporting of hazards to aviation as privileged information in order to preserve the free and honest prioritization and discussion of safety among aircrew," he said. "Furthermore, any report generated as a result of these investigations will, by necessity, include classified information on military operations."
The U.S. government has looked into the phenomena of unexplained objects before dating back to the 1950s, including a secret investigation where the Pentagon collected and analyzed "anomalous aerospace threats."
Funding for the "UFO" office ended in 2012, though operations for the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program continued.
Luis Elizondo, an intelligence officer who ran AATIP before leaving the Pentagon, told the Post some information collected by the Navy could be released in the future.
"If it remains strictly within classified channels, then the 'right person' may not actually get the information," he said. "The right person doesn't necessarily mean a military leader. It can be a lawmaker. It can be a whole host of different individuals."
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